BBC News - Hackers crack open mobile network: "Mobile calls and texts made on any GSM network can be eavesdropped upon using four cheap phones and open source software, say security researchers.

Karsten Nohl and Sylvain Munaut demonstrated their eavesdropping toolkit at the Chaos Computer Club Congress (CCC) in Berlin.

The work builds on earlier research that has found holes in many parts of the most widely used mobile technology.

The pair spent a year putting together the parts of the eavesdropping toolkit.

'Now there's a path from your telephone number to me finding you and listening to your calls,' Mr Nohl told BBC News"

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Wikileaks: Vicious Diplomats Want to Influence Judiciary Also: "Diplomatic cables leaked by Wikileaks have covered a spectrum of vitiated tactics applied by diplomats and bureaucrats not only in global politics and business, but also how the government machinery is also involved in influencing the judiciary.
And the latest leak casts light on how US ambassadors traded secret customs related documents filed by Odyssey Marine Exploration, a Tampa Florida based treasure-hunting company, in return for helping a US citizen get an impressionist painting from Spain.
A treasure consisting of 600,000 silver coins, several hundred gold coins, and other artifacts, discovered by Odyssey in a shipwreck from Atlantic bed in 2007, has been at the center stage of a legal battle between the American company and Spain. After its discovery, Odyssey named the ship as Black Swan, which the Spanish claim to be their vessel Mercedes that sunk in 1804.
Wikileaks has released the cables that highlight how the US ambassador to Spain Eduardo Aguirre negotiated with the Spanish side to help them securing Black Swan if they returned Camille Pissarno’s “Rue St Honoré. Après-midi. Effet de Pluie” (1897) to Claude Cassirer, a US citizen."

Julian Assange Book Deal: Assange to Keep WikiLeaks Afloat With New Book | ThirdAge: "Julian Assange, the controversial head of secret-document release website WikiLeaks, has signed a book deal worth more than $1 million to pay his organization's legal bills.

Assange told The Sunday Times in London that the book would be an autobiography. He reportedly signed a deal with Alfred A. Knopf for $800,000 and with Canongate books for $500,000. Knopf is an imprint of Random House publications based in the U.S.

Assange says he has been under house arrest in an English mansion waiting to attend hearings on allegations of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion until Jan. 11. He told the British paper due to his circumstances he needs to write the book to keep his website afloat."

How one banking giant is responding to WikiLeaks threat | CFODailyNews.com | No-nonsense Finance news and insights to grow your bottom line: "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange revealed his plans to release damaging info on a major US bank, one lending institution sprung into action in an effort to protect itself.

That institution is Bank of America, the lending giant many believe Assange is planning to expose by leaking internal documents and e-mail.

So what is Bank of America doing? First, the bank has been snatching up hundreds of abusive domain names — which include the names of its senior execs and board members.

For example, Bank of America registered a slew of descriptive and insulting domain names for its CEO Brian Moynihan, including:

BrianMoynihanBlows.com
BrianMoynihanSucks.com, and
BriandTMoynihanBlows."

Chinese economist predicts yuan rise: WikiLeaks: "top economist at the state-run China Construction Bank told US officials that the yuan could appreciate by five percent against the dollar next year, according to leaked diplomatic cables.
In a report released by WikiLeaks, the bank's chief economist Hwa Erh-cheng also predicted a three percent rise in the value of the yuan against the dollar this year. So far the yuan has risen 3.05 percent.
Amidst a fierce back and forth between Beijing and Washington over the value of the Chinese currency -- which the United States says is artificially undervalued, skewing trade -- Hwa said an rapid rise was unlikely.
'(Hwa)... agreed that the exchange rate was a 'challenge' for the People's Bank of China (PBOC), and even though the PBOC might be forced to allow appreciation, it would only be incremental because the international environment remained fragile and the export recovery was not strong.'
'Predicting that the RMB (renminbi, or yuan) would rise about three percent in 2010 and five percent in 2011, Hwa concluded that it was unlikely to be a 'one-shot' change.'"

WikiLeaks cable reveals how a Brazilian 'terrorist' got a US visa last year - CSMonitor.com: "A Brazilian who helped kidnap the US ambassador to his country in 1969 should never have received a tourist visa from the State Department last year, according to a US diplomatic cable posted yesterday by Wikileaks.
After the US consulate pasted the precious visa into former student radical Paulo de Tarso Venceslau's passport, but before it returned the passport to him, officials realized what had happened. A top diplomat wrote to Washington asking whether it would be best to let him slide 'in light of the distance from the crime, the circumstances under which it took place, and our desire for a forward-looking relatio"

Banks attempt to suppress maths student's exposé of chip and pin - Education News, Education - The Independent: "Cambridge computer scientists have become embroiled in angry exchanges with Britain's banks and credit card lenders, accusing them of bullying and trying to 'censor' a PhD student who was exposing flaws in chip-and-pin machines.

A leading Cambridge academic has now written to bankers' representatives demanding that they stop pressing for the removal of a student's doctorate work from the web.

Professor Ross Anderson, from Cambridge University's Computer Laboratory, has previously researched glitches in chip-and-pin banking that allow withdrawals to be made from accounts without needing to know the holder's PIN. As part of his thesis work, one of his students, Omar Choudary, exposed how easy it was to make such a withdrawal.

Then the UK Cards Association, a trade body representing leading banking organisations, approached the university asking it to remove the thesis from his website, which is accessible through a university site."

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Britain has 21 millionaires yet to claim lottery prizes - mirror.co.uk: "Britain currently has 21 mystery lotto millionaires with £29million waiting to be paid out to winners.

Twelve out of 25 ­EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle winners from Christmas Eve have yet to come forward, along with eight earlier Raffle winners and three Lotto winners."

Cozy Christmas for Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig - hellomagazine.com: "When Rachel Weisz announced the end of her nine-year romance with Darren Aronofsky last month there were whispers of a blossoming relationship with Daniel Craig.

And now it seems there was some truth to those reports.

The British actress, 39, and the James Bond star, 42, are said to have spent the festive period together holed up in a cottage hideaway in a secluded snow-covered Dorset village.

Photos first published in the News of the World show the hot new couple – pictured here in 2004 - walking hand-in-hand through the countryside and going into a local pub."

Royal Wedding: Firm launches London tour walk to cash in on Prince William and Kate Middleton's engagement - mirror.co.uk: "tour company is cashing in on Prince William’s engagement to Kate Middleton by selling £15 tickets to a walking trip around locations that helped “define the next royal golden couple”. The Royal Wedding Walk will be a two-and-a-half hour tour aimed firmly at American tourists, and the first one sets off on Sunday.

Tour organiser and Dragons’ Den reject James Bonney said yesterday: “It’s got the potential to go crazy.”"

Beady Eye - Beady Eye Ready To Conquer World In New Year - Contactmusic News: "Beady Eye are looking forward to being 'massive' in 2011.
The group - consisting of the former members of Oasis, Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer, Andy Bell and Chris Sharrock - will release their new album, 'Different Gear, Still Speeding' in February and are expecting instant chart success.
Liam said: 'I think we're going to be f***ing big, man. There's no point saying, 'Oh we might be kind of big,' otherwise what's the point? Because I know how good we are and I know how good we're gonna be.
'We're gonna be f***ing massive. Come back to us in a couple of years if I'm wrong and then fair play to you but.'
The outspoken rocker - who formed the group after his brother Noel Gallagher quit Oasis in August 2009 - believes the world is desperate for a group like Beady Eye because there have been so many uninspiring new rock bands in the last decade."

Engaged and expecting: double joy for Natalie Portman - hellomagazine.com: "Natalie Portman has revealed that not only is she engaged, she is also pregnant with her first child.

It has been confirmed that the 29-year-old actress is expecting a baby with her new fiancé, ballet choreographer Benjamin Millepied, which is due in 2011.

In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, Israel-born Natalie confirmed the happy news, saying: “I have always kept my private life private, but I will say that I am indescribably happy and feel very grateful to have this experience.”"

Elton John and David Furnish become parents - Telegraph: "The boy, who has been named Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, was born on Christmas Day in the United States.
“We are overwhelmed with happiness and joy at this very special moment,” they said in a statement issued to magazine Us Weekly. “Zachary is healthy and doing really well, and we are very proud and happy parents.” The rock star’s spokeswoman confirmed the report but said no details of the surrogacy arrangement would be disclosed and they intended to respect the privacy of the surrogate. The boy weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces and was 22 inches long."

 I am the number one football coach: Mourinho: "Jose Mourinho said on Thursday he deserved to be named coach of the year and not Spain's World Cup winning coach Vicente del Bosque.
The ever immodest 47-year-old Real Madrid coach told the 'Gazzetta dello sport' that he firmly believed he had achieved more in 2010 when he was in charge of Inter Milan than the Spanish handler, who delivered Spain their first world title when they beat the Netherlands 1-0 in July's final.
'Me, I've made my choice. 11 months work, 57 matches played, three titles including the most important of all, 'THE' tournament, the Champions League (plus the Italian Cup and the Italian league title),' said Mourinho, who left Inter for Real in the summer.
'I have won everything, I could not do any more than that, equally so for the players.'"

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Norwegian newspaper has all the wikileaks cables - The Inquirer: "NORWEGIAN NEWSPAPER has claimed that it has all of the Wikileaks US State Department cables in unencrypted form and can print the lot of them without any censorship.
Wikileaks released all of the cables to four of its favourite newspapers - the New York Times, Le Monde, the Guardian and Der Spiegel - on the condition that they could only print the censored versions on a piecemeal basis. The newspapers have so far made public only about 1,900 of the more than 250,000 leaked US State Department documents.
The rest have been encrypted and placed on servers all around the world. However Norway's largest circulation daily newspaper Aftenposten claims that it has the lot
Aftenposten managing editor Ole Erik Almlid told the Associated Press that the newspaper has no restrictions on how to use the material and will be publishing articles about the US documents that it finds relevant in its online and paper editions."

Breaking News Today » BOA’s Secret Will Be Leaked by Wikileaks: "Bank of America decided to buy the domain with the names of their employees, in order to prevent it falling into the hands of hackers. Bank of America apparently worried that the hackers will buy a domain name which comes from the name of their staff and includes malware or pornographic content into it. As quoted from TechEYE, Friday (24/12/2010). Bank of America also worried that WikiLeaks will leak the documents from the president and their senior staff."

WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Now Making $86k/year - World Watch - CBS News: "WikiLeaks' main financial arm, the Germany-based Wau Holland Foundation says it has collected about 1 million Euro ($1.3 million) in donations in 2010, the year in which WikiLeaks exploded into public prominence thanks to its release of thousands of classified U.S. documents, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.

Wau Holland is the primary but not sole financial provider for WikiLeaks, the Journal reports.

From those donations, Wau Holland has established a Greenpeace-like system of salary payments, as WikiLeaks attempts to legitimize its organization by moving away from purely volunteer-based work, the Journal reports. The move to make salaried employees allegedly comes after a year-long intense internal debate about whether to do so."

From Florida to Spain, intrigue to stop a judge - Guantánamo - MiamiHerald.com: "Don't indict former President George W. Bush's legal brain trust for alleged torture in the treatment of war on terror detainees, warned Mel Martinez on one of his frequent trips to Madrid. Doing so would chill U.S.-Spanish relations.

Rather than a resolution, though, a senior Spanish diplomat gave the former GOP chairman and housing secretary a lesson in Spain's separation of powers. ``The independence of the judiciary and the process must be respected,'' then-acting Foreign Minister Angel Lossada replied on April 15, 2009. Then for emphasis, ``Lossada reiterated to Martinez that the executive branch of government could not close any judicial investigation and urged that this case not affect the overall relationship.''

The case is still open, on the desk of a Spanish magistrate, awaiting a reply from the Obama administration on whether it will pursue a probe of its own.

But the episode, revealed in a raft of WikiLeaks cables, was part of a secret concerted U.S. effort to stop a crusading Spanish judge from investigating a torture complaint against former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and five other senior Bush lawyers."

Cuba publishes some WikiLeaks cables - UPI.com: "While some governments have been trying to keep their people from reading leaked U.S. diplomatic cables, Cuba has begun running them on a Web site.

'Las Razones de Cuba' or 'Cuba's Reasons' has translated and posted seven documents so far, CNN reported.

Cuba has, however, been selective. All the documents involve meetings between U.S. diplomats in the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, while other non-published documents bearing on Cuba include speculation about Fidel Castro's health and other closed topics.

The Web site said the documents it has released show the United States wants to 'organize youth networks to subvert the Cuban Revolution.'"

 Wikileaks suspect Bradley Manning's health 'declining': "only person to visit Wikileaks suspect Pte Bradley Manning in custody other than his lawyer says his health has declined in the past four months.

Pte Manning, a US soldier, is being held in solitary confinement in a high-security military prison at Quantico marine base, Virginia.

US journalist David House, who has been visiting him since September, told the BBC World Service he looked 'frazzled'.

The Pentagon has denied it is mistreating Pte Manning.

A Marine Corps spokesman said the military was keeping him 'safe, secure and ready for trial'.

Pte Manning faces up to 50 years in jail if convicted of leaking secrets."

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Lindsay Lohan: I'm The Victim!!! | TMZ.com: "Lindsay is squarely disputing the story chemical dependency technician Dawn Holland told TMZ ... that Lindsay attacked her and caused her to sprain her arm so severely she's on workers' comp. Lindsay says, for starters, she wasn't even with her two roommates hours before the incident. Lindsay says she was out getting her hair done.

Lindsay is telling her friends and family, when she returned to the house, Holland grabbed her abruptly and pushed her so hard, Lindsay began to cry.

Lindsay says that's when she went inside the house and called 911.

As for refusing to take a breathalyzer, Lindsay says she actually asked Holland to give her a test but Holland refused."

100 Club To Saved By Mystery Sponsor? | Gigwise: "legendary club, which played host to a number of bands such as the Sex Pistols and Oasis, was under threat of closure after spiralling rent costs.

A number of artists have been involved in the save the 100 Club campaign. Paul McCartney played his smallest gig in a decade at the 100 Club last Friday (December 17).

Now the venue is set to join up with a mystery sponsor in order to stay open, The London Evening Standard reports.

‘’We are actually in talks now with somebody who's stepped forward who wants to sponsor the club. I can't tell you any more than that because I've signed terms so I'm tied to a confidentiality agreement,’’ owner Jeff Horton said."

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